3/31/16

This is part one of two photos from one night at the Stork Club in 1951. A gathering at one table with a fascinating bit of info written on the back of part two.

Click on images to see them larger.

The Stork Club was a nightclub in Manhattan, New York City, which during its existence from 1929 to 1965 was one of the most prestigious clubs in the world. A symbol of café society, the wealthy elite, including movie stars, celebrities, showgirls, and aristocrats all mixed in the VIP Cub Room of the club.

The club was established on West 58th Street in 1929 by Sherman Billingsley, a former bootlegger from Enid, Oklahoma. After an incident when Billingsley was kidnapped and held for ransom by Mad Dog Coll, a rival of his mobster partners, he became the sole owner of the Stork Club. The club remained at its original location until it was raided by Prohibition agents in 1931. After the raid, it moved to East 51st Street. From 1934 until its closure in 1965, it was located at 3 East 53rd Street, just east of Fifth Avenue, when it became world-renowned with its celebrity clientele and luxury. Billingsley was known for his lavish gifts, which brought a steady stream of celebrities to the club and also insured that those interested in the famous would have a reason to visit. (SOURCE: Wikipedia)

3/25/16

Raise your hand if you were a stamp collector as a child. I was fascinated by stamps, but then I grew up to be an artist so I was always drawn to visual things. But there was also the fascination with knowing these little scraps of paper had come from foreign lands. It gave me a connection to places I'd never go, but as a child it helped to make the world a bit smaller.

Click on image to see it larger.

Now, the prompt for Sepia Saturday this week is playing marbles. Well, I don't have any photos of people with marbles. I have a few where the people look like they've lost their marbles, but I don't think that's what the prompt was hoping for.

I had a nice bag of marbles as a child, but they're long gone and that makes me sad. I can close my eyes and still remember my favorite purees. The purees were always my favorite because of the way light played with them.

A few years ago I bought some marbles in a small shop in Columbia, California. Columbia is a California State Park that captures a time long gone in the Gold Country. Paved streets where once dirt was king and kids played marbles in the afternoon sun. Seeing those marbles in the store made me want to collect them again. So I bought around seven lovely purees of various sizes, brought them home, and put them in a see-through container. This way I'm sure I'll never lose my marbles. I always know where they are.

My stamp collection? I still have it tucked safely on the top shelf of a closet. Next to it sits a shoebox full of stamps that never made it into the album. In fact, there's a box of stamps on my desk that are still attached to the torn paper from the envelopes they arrived on. They'll never make it into an album, and the box is nearly full, but it's almost automatic when I put them away for safe keeping. Hey, it's better than my old method which was to just tear them off and stick them in a drawer. I still find stamps in the oddest places. When I die they'll find stamps in probably every drawer in my house. I squirrel them away for no logical reason. But there you go. I'm squirrelly, but I've got my marbles in one place for anyone to see._____

3/20/16

The antique store was having a sale so I perused the box I had perused so many times before. I managed to find a few snapshots I had missed on previous trips. Minor excitement when I found this photo of the kids from the Serious Family.

To see past images of these oh so serious children click on "serious family" in the labels below.

3/17/16

I bought this photo for a friend for her birthday. Her father was from the Ukraine; a handsome man who was once a Cossack in the tsar's army.

While living in L.A. my friend and I went to a dance performance of a Ukrainian dance troupe. My knees hurt just watching them.

Of course these days my knees hurt all the time. I might be facing some knee surgery to fix damage done, most likely, long ago when I skied every weekend. One too many falls with my knee twisting in the wrong direction. Eventually your past catches up with you.

3/6/16

I recently read a report that due to the success of Downton Abbey there was a chance that a spinoff series would be made taking place several decades after Downton ends. Scripts were written, casting was done, and a pilot episode was made. Alas, it was determined that perhaps it was an unwise decision. The mucky-mucks at Lionsgate refused to air the pilot. In fact they asked that it be destroyed. Ahhhh, but one single image exists to prove that it did happen.

Search Tattered and Lost

An American Dream at AMAZON

The American dream of owning a home through vintage vernacular photographs. The focus is on the people who lived within the homes as well as the varied architecture from the late 1800s to the 1960s.

FORGOTTEN DOLLS at amazon

A journey via vintage snapshots through the world of dolls and their owners from the early part of the 20th century to the 1960s. This is volume 7 in the Tattered and Lost Vernacular Photography series.

The Quiet Art of Reading at Amazon

Before being overwhelmed by a future of snapshots of people staring at nondescript tablets and smartphones, it would be nice to be reminded of the romance of reading a worn copy of a favorite book in a quiet and comfortable place. The beauty of the act of reading should be celebrated. That is what this book attempts to do.

BUCKAROOS AND BUCKARETTES at Amazon

Tattered and Lost: Buckaroos and Buckarettes is a collection of vintage snapshots for those who remember riding the range when they were kids. These adventures usually consisted of sitting in front of a black and white television or running around the neighborhood with our shiny six-guns strapped to our sides. Our imaginations created entire worlds that never existed. We sang along with our heroes, convinced that with a song in our heart and a six-gun on our hip we could vanquish evil. This book is dedicated to all the other buckaroos and buckarettes who rode their imaginations into the sunset while humming Happy Trails. Buy it at Amazon.

CAKES, PICNICS, AND WATERMELON at Amazon

Collecting vintage photographs starts out innocent enough with a few snapshots here and there, but at some point it becomes a bit more obsessive and you find yourself longing for the next image that makes you laugh or ponder the irrefutable confusion of being human. This book, Tattered and Lost: Cakes, Picnics, and Watermelon, the fourth in a series, shows the quirky world of sharing food from the 1890s to the 1970s in the United States. Sit back and enjoy watching people cut cakes (some people do it with such style!), go on picnics without your relatives, and watch people eat watermelon. Yes, eat watermelon. An odd category for sure, but one sure to make you smile. Buy it at Amazon.

Vernacular Photographs at Amazon

Tattered and Lost: Vernacular Photographs, is volume 1 in my self-published books showing photos from my collection. Photographs play off each other on facing pages asking the viewer to come to their own conclusion as to what they are looking at. Included is a photo of the Pennsylvania Railroad S1 steam locomotive, designed by Raymond Loewy, on display at the 1939 New York World’s Fair. And one of the few known copies of a photo taken by Rudolph D’Heureuse in 1863 proving there were indeed camels used by the U. S. Cavalry is included. So take a step back in time and visit with some folks who long ago smiled and said “cheese” never knowing how long those smiles would last. Buy it at Amazon.

TELLING STORIES at Amazon

In need of writing prompts? Looking for a gift for a friend who loves vintage photographs? Tattered and Lost: Telling Stories is now available from CreateSpace and Amazon. Click on the image to find out more! Buy it at Amazon.

CHILDHOOD at Amazon

A new and expanded edition of Tattered and Lost: Childhood. Available at CreateSpace and Amazon. Better price, more pages, larger trim size. Click on the image to read more about it. Buy it at Amazon.

TRAVELING WITH CHARLIE

Looking for a blog that makes watching paint dry seem exciting? Click to experience everything but the fumes.

Tattered and Lost Too

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What is Tattered and Lost?

Tattered and Lost is about some of the found and/or vernacular photography in my collection.

Unless you're an incredibly organized person you probably have a few stray photos tucked away that you've forgotten about. No matter how many family members or friends say they love you, sooner or later, a photo of you is going to slip through the cracks and end up in the hands of someone who knows nothing about you. Such are the photos at this site.

THE PHOTOS

Photographs of the ordinary by the ordinary.
All photos are from my private collection. They may NOT be used in any manner without my permission. I retain all copyrights for everything published on this site unless specified as belonging to someone else.